Emerging Concepts Brief: What Are the Implications of Adolescent Brain Development for Juvenile Justice?

Brain imagery now allows us all to see the developmental milestones achieved by the human brain as it grows and matures throughout the early stages of life -- confirming in pictures what parents and those who work closely with youth have long found to be true: adolescence is a period of gradual maturation. Hard science demonstrates that teenagers and young adults are not fully mature in their judgment, problem-solving and decisionmaking capacities. This paper endeavors to explore the implications of such science for policy and practice in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.